10 Best Jazz Albums Of The 50′s

With the introduction of Latin jazz fusion, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and free jazz, the 1950’s is definitely a glorious decade for jazz music, and listening to the 10 best jazz albums of the 50's is something that you will enjoy. These years mark the release of albums and songs that are truly the heart of jazz, endearing and pleasure to the ears. To give you a taste of what jazz was like during those days, listen to the songs from these best jazz albums of the 50’s.

"Birth of the Cool": Miles Davis is a world renowned jazz musician and getting this 50's jazz album will prove that. This is a compilation album containing twelve of his greatest songs, with the participation of other notable musicians with unusual instrumentation.

"Pithecanthropus Erectus": The bassist and jazz composer Charles Mingus put out one of the best jazz albums of the 50’s. The title refers to the Upright Ape Man, but other claims say that it also refers to the singers' bass. Mingus says that the title is about man rising from his hominid roots, but also falling because of greed and standing on false security.

"Way Out West": This 50's jazz album introduced strolling. This was used by Sonny Rollins for the first time, wherein he sings a solo with only the bass and drums and no piano accompaniment. Together with his bassist Ray Brown and the drummer Shelly Manne, he made this album very successful.

"The Shape of Jazz to Come": Another influential album from the best jazz albums of the 50’s is "The Shape of Jazz to Come". Here, Ornette Coleman showed that he is not your average musician even if this was his debut album. With no chord structure and with simultaneous improvisation, this introduced what avant-garde jazz is.

"Giant Steps": John Coltrane made giant steps with his career when he released this album, one of the best jazz albums of the 50’s. All of the songs included here were his own compositions that introduced the Coltrane changes, a new harmonic concept at that time. Up to these ways, jazz musician are using the ‘Giant Steps’ concept.

"Brilliant Corners": Thelonius Monk is another great artist who released one of the best jazz albums of the 50’s. This is his third album, and the track with this title is considered to be one of his most difficult compositions as it required over a dozen takes in the studio. All of the pieces here are brilliant, one of the many reasons why Monk is historically significant in music.

"Jazz in Silhouette": Sun Ra and His Arkestra recorded this album in Chicago which is one of the best jazz albums of the 50’s. This was the time when they were exploring avant-garde jazz that will inspire every listener in whatever perspective such as the rhythm, melody, mood or ensemble. With the group’ expertise, you will not be disappointed with this.

"Blue Train": Despite being John Coltrane’s first solo album, this one still made it to the best jazz albums of the 50’s. All of the pieces here were written by him, with the exception of ‘I’m Old Fashioned.’ With this you will be able to experience the best of hard bop jazz.

"Bird and Diz": From the saxophonist Charlie Parker and the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie comes another album that is one of the best jazz albums of the 50’s. This was a very successful album, featuring the standard bebop instrumentations wherein there is the combination of the saxophone, piano, drums bass and trumpet.

"Time Out": One of the unusual things for jazz during these years was the use of time signatures. But the brilliance of The Dave Brubeck Quartet showed that this is indeed possible, making their album one of the best during the 1950’s. It was initially received negatively but when the people realized that it is amazing, it became a best-seller.